- 06. Great Retreat -
First shot, one down.
After that, one shot for the ones hiding behind their shells like turtles. Two more shots for the ones milling around in confusion—three total.
After giving four Undead a lead-bullet funeral.
Even if they couldn't pinpoint the shooter's position, the ones who'd at least figured out the direction the attacks were coming from broke their tight formation and hid behind thick trees. The moment they did, Athena relocated.
Swish-swish—
The low crawl he'd learned in basic training, back when his knees and elbows got scraped raw.
Thanks to the Automata body's physical abilities and durability, she moved so fast it was hard to believe it was a crawl at all.
Truly, steel knees and steel elbows!
No comparison to his days as a fragile human man who'd had to tear up his socks and wrap them around his knees in basic training.
And there was nothing hanging down below to get caught on anything, which was a little sad.
[Athena. Do you really need to bring that up?]
'What do you know!'
Like she had no human heart at all.
Athena ignored Nike's scolding and wriggled her limbs.
Squirm~ squirm~
Combined with the homemade, makeshift ghillie suit she'd whipped up on the spot with Materia Magic, she was practically a Dark Templar incarnate.
Enemies with no Overlord were doomed to be slaughtered one-sidedly.
Athena chuckled—heh heh—and crawled along the ground.
[Umm... Athena. I hate to say this, but that, uh, appearance is a bit much...]
The sight of her wriggling and scuttling quickly across the dry ground called to mind a certain Mr. Roach—the kind of sight that made anyone's skin crawl—and Nike chimed in.
'Hey! Call it tactical.'
[...]
Athena gently ignored the reaction of Nike, who was sweating inside her head.
Oh, come on, that's what they taught in the military! If you don't want to die in modern warfare, you crawl.
After flanking the enemies like that, she aimed once more.
The Undead bastards had no idea their flank was exposed. They kept poking their heads out one at a time, scanning what they considered their "front."
[Indeed... the effect is undeniable.]
Leaving Athena's half-impressed remark behind,
fire commenced.
Bang bang bang!
Three more went down.
That made seven kills confirmed.
Only three remained. Once again, the enemies who hadn't even managed to glimpse the shooter changed their response.
They raised shields that were visibly thick—made as thick as they could possibly manage—in the direction of the gunfire, then crept forward.
At the end of their path lay a survivor (presumed) who appeared unconscious and motionless.
Anyone could see they were trying to take a hostage.
'Those bastards?'
[The cowards!]
Was this because they had started out as fucking humans? It was such a rational response that she almost wanted to applaud.
[What will you do, Athena?]
'Time to show myself.'
[Are you sure?]
'10-to-1 might be rough, but 3-to-1 is doable.'
Athena rose to her feet and ran toward them. She'd decided to reveal herself anyway. No reason to drag things out.
The moment they spotted Athena, the Undead abandoned their thick shields and charged without fear.
They darted between the trees like beasts, swift and agile, closing the distance.
'What is this, some kind of omni-directional mobility gear? Fucking ridiculous—'
Even for Athena, she had no confidence in shooting targets moving like that. Not unless she had some kind of bullet-time ability...
Athena cleanly admitted that fact and converted the Mosin-Nagant back into S&S revolvers.
This time, two of them. One in each hand.
Thud thud thud!
The sound of their feet pounding the ground grew louder.
As the distance closed, their movement changed again.
They charged in a straight line, bodies fully exposed, taking the fastest route.
They came on like beasts, faces covered by their blackened, metal-gleaming arms.
"Hmph—"
Athena snorted at the sight of them.
So they'd gauged the bolt-action's rate of fire and decided to trade one of their own to make sure they killed me. Was that it?
[They still haven't properly grasped the power of firearms. If anything, this is an opportunity, Athena.]
"Yeah."
With the help of Nike's Crosshair aiming correction, she fired without hesitation.
Distance: about 60 meters.
Rounds expended: all 12.
.357 Magnum. Among handgun cartridges, it possessed top-tier power and stopping force, and it smashed apart the enemies who'd recklessly thrown their bodies in front of the muzzle.
Crack! Crash!
The Undead at the very front collapsed, its arms and head reduced to rags in a single burst.
Click— clatter—
[Reloading!]
Using only a snap of her wrist, she opened the cylinder, ejected the casings, and reloaded.
Immediately after, fire commenced again.
This time, nine rounds.
Bang bang... BANG—!
The second Undead met the same end as the first.
Rounds remaining: three.
Distance: under 10 meters. At an Undead's speed, two or three steps would close it.
Athena's revolver turned toward the third Undead.
The bastard still had its face covered.
Through the gap between its arms, its eyes gleamed like glass beads.
It swayed its upper body like a boxer, transparently broadcasting its determination not to get hit in the head no matter what.
But Athena wasn't flustered.
"Idiot."
BANG! BANG!
Just because Undead and Automata don't die instantly as long as their heads are intact, did that mean it could just leave the rest of its body wide open?
Athena pulled the trigger twice and planted two rounds precisely into the bastard's fully exposed lower body.
The part that could be called the pillar supporting its body was literally smashed apart, and the bastard's movement stopped dead like a broken doll.
Maintaining its head-protecting posture even then was praiseworthy, but that was all.
Once the movement that actually mattered stopped—
Click—
The trigger was pulled and the cylinder rotated.
BANG—!
A half-assed Mozambique Drill.
'But the effect is undeniable, right?'
The last round Athena fired pierced through the bastard.
***
Once the battle was over, the battlefield had to be cleaned up.
Gather the loot, tend to the wounded—
The Undead cores were especially important to Athena, who only had a 3-Star Normal-grade MP pool, so she had to collect every last fragment down to the size of a fingernail.
But what was more urgent than that was checking on the survivor's condition.
"He's alive, right? He definitely didn't have any major wounds—"
After all that effort to save him, if it turned into "Aw, too bad. He died!" she'd be seriously pissed.
Athena headed to where the survivor lay.
A pale-faced, black-haired man collapsed among the undergrowth. He was quite tall and looked sturdily built—anyone could see he looked like a top-tier knight.
His face was handsome too. Tch.
Who was he? One of the important figures of this era?
"He's not dead, is he?"
[He's alive. He's breathing. But he seems to have lost consciousness from extreme exhaustion.]
"That's a relief."
[Athena, would you place your hand on him?]
"My hand?"
[Yes. I can't do a detailed scan, but I can roughly check his physical condition.]
"Hmm—"
This voice in her head could really do all sorts of things. Athena followed Nike's instruction and grabbed his wrist without complaint.
"Is that enough?"
[Extreme exhaustion, dehydration, starvation, and stress. Several factors combined make it a dangerous situation, but it's not the worst.]
"Not the worst, huh... So he doesn't need special medicine or surgery?"
[Correct. If he eats well and rests well, he'll be up soon. Though whether that's possible in the current situation, I'm not sure.]
"Nothing we can do about that."
If he'd lost an arm or something, he'd need food, rest, bandages, medicine, all sorts of things. If all he needed was to eat well and rest well, that was practically nothing.
Anyway, she'd saved a person.
Athena used Materia Magic to create small amounts of water, sugar, and salt, mixed them together—swish swish!—and poured it into the man's mouth.
"That should count as first aid, at least."
After finally covering him with a blanket, Athena began looting.
The first thing to collect was, of course, the Undead Core Fragments. Even if it took time, she had to recover them thoroughly.
They'd all become valuable bullets, after all.
Fortunately, the recovery work finished far faster than expected.
Thanks to Nike highlighting the fragment edges in yellow along the way.
Athena returned to where the man lay, hoisted him onto her back, and was about to leave when she paused to look around.
Just like when he'd first opened his eyes. Blood and death lay scattered everywhere.
These people, left to rot without even the minimum of respect...
"Tch—"
[Athena. It's unfortunate, but right now—]
"I know."
Retreat and pursuit were happening all across the northern continent. Even at this very moment, the Heuksu's sharp fangs could strike from anywhere.
The advantage and disadvantage of firearms was the loud noise. There was no telling what might swarm in after hearing it.
Athena left them behind and moved on.